Street Level Zen: Dependent Co-arising

« Ce qu'il faut de saleté pour faire une fleur! »

Félix Leclerc

(English translation here.)


(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

WW: Oak apple

(I found this large round growth, which when dry closely resembles a dried gourd, on a garry oak [Quercus garryana] at the Fort Eaton monument. It's an immunoreaction to the larvae of a tiny parasitic wasp, and is one of hundreds of these ping-pong-to-tennis-ball-sized globes that litter the branches and ground in the oak grove there.

When dried, oak apples yield a brown powder that's almost pure tannin, and was an important industrial resource in times past. Apart from tanning and dyeing, it was an essential ingredient of most quality ink produced from the invention of the pen through the 19th century. Iron gall ink continues to outperform many modern competitors, and is still used by calligraphers, among others.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Rock Groups 2021

Ah, July. That glorious month when northern Zen loosens up and Rusty Ring vacates from seriousness.

Seriously. I look forward to this.

And each year our flagship foolery is the annual Rock Group Survey, in which I gather up all of the group names that the gods have revealed to me since my last Cortex dump.



The rules have not changed. They are:

» That all names here-under are available to any taker. I hereby repudiate all ownership, and offer them freely to anybody who wants one or more for any reason.

» That such takers must however verify via thorough search of the Information Superhighway that in fact no existing group currently fights under the desired name, as I have not already done so. (notresponsible fordukkhaduetopreviousownershipofnamesorconceptswriterisnotanintellectualpropertylawyernoranintellectualnorpropertynoralawyeralwaystakeeverythingyoureadonlineoranywhereelsewithacaskofsaltyourenlightenmentisyourresponsibilitynotliableforkarmicconsequencesresultingfromassumingIwaswiserthanyouareseriouslyareyoublindaswellasstupid?)

» That any group assuming one of my identities is entitled to claim they were personally bestowed same by a Zen hermit monk, who will for his part back up any further legend concocted in connexion with the aforementioned claim.

As ever, where entries include parenthetical commentary on possible genres, that's just me talkin'. You want it, you take it. No questions asked, no takings tasked.

So hey, summer's a-wastin'! Dive in, dude!


Rock Groups 2021

Caman (Scottish rock)
Glastonbury Thorn (British folkrock)
Hollowstate
Serpent Zed
Bangjang
Asparagus
The Sea Monkeys
Grate
Runnin' Jump
&c.
Telstar
Pork
Overkill
Bitten Kitten
Wombat
Headwind
Ctrl-Z
Airlock
The Big Happy
The Murder Hornets (a bit shamed I didn't come up with this before there was an actual thing called that)
Mission Creep
Peña Ajena
Drudge
Электросталь
Bad Bread
Mother
Halftrack
Catshark
Wally Cleaver and the Dam-Rats
Ronin
Gelatinous Mass (in Gothic lettering with Catholic imagery)
Uploaf
Hillary
Gary Seven and the Timewarp
Killswitch
Spork
Monongahela
Egress Window
The Surfin' TERFs (grrrl group)
The Sandpapers (punk take on the Sandpipers)
Konïgstraat
Rocksalt
The Cul de Sac Kids
Rory Chesterfield and the Lowboys


(Photo courtesy of Bekir Dönmez and Unsplash.com.)

WW: On the Black River

(Fishing with my nephew. Open in a new window or tab to see it better.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Responsibility Kyôsaku

"Do not emulate others' wrongdoing. See to your own virtue."

Dōgen

(Photo courtesy of Jay Castor and Unsplash.com.)

WW: Compassion in the pit of Hell

(The world is still talking about the 40+ degree weather we on the North Coast experienced this week. I've lived places where that kind of heat wasn't unheard of, but to see it fry my green and temperate homeland was terrifying. [And uncomfortable; few homes here have air conditioners.]

The above photo was snapped beside a local bike path. It's a basin of water for the dogs that are often walked on this trail, presumably placed by the neighbour who lives behind the gate that's out of frame on the right.)

Appearing also on My Corner of the World.

Our Worst Nightmare

This week I learned two things:

1. that something called "the Buddha-like mindset" is trending among young people in China and Japan, and
2. it's largely condemned

The phrase "Buddha-like mindset" – or Chinese and Japanese phrases so translated – refers to a tendency among those nations' youth to eschew lifestyles dedicated to amassing status symbols and winning the approval of others. It dovetails with a new tiger-free parental attitude that Simon Fraser anthro prof Jie Yang sums up as "there are not that many kids who will really amount to much, so why give them an exhausting childhood?"

Instead, these mostly male kids are said to grow up shiftless and solipsistic, never making it in the work world, devoting their lives instead to their hobbies, pets, and interests.

Most alarming to cultural gatekeepers, they're also swearing off women. Insofar as courtship is the most grueling of society's approval rackets, these young-to-middle-aged men buy back their sovereignty and peace of spirit by simply Bartlebying that mofo.

All of which is a precise description of me. Or has become, any road.

Of course, as Wikipedia points out, "Although it is inspired by the Buddhist guidance to become satisfied through giving up anything tied to avarice, it is not a Buddhist principle." It is, however, predicated on conventional Zen teaching. To wit, as another source in the WP article puts it: "It's OK to have, and it's OK not to have; no competition, no fight, no winning or losing."

But in fact, in a twist partly reminiscent of Western "lifestyle Buddhism", few adherents actually follow Buddha-like mindset into any spiritual practice. (China's Communist ruling class is turning back flips over it all the same, officially for ideological reasons, but more likely for political and economic ones.)

And really, in the end, it's not surprising that the lions of these Asian societies are greeting this improbable teenage fad with consternation.

Just imagine the atomic tantrums we'd pitch in the Christian West if our kids suddenly started emulating Christ.

While simultaneously rejecting the authority of the Church.

I dare to venture this would be the single worst nightmare we've ever faced.

(Photo courtesy of Ian Stauffer and Unsplash.com)